Two people were taken to hospital following a two-vehicle collision on Highway 4 just west of the Coombs Junction Monday morning, Feb. 26.

Sgt. Darrin Ramey, with the Central Vancouver Island Traffic Services, said at around 9:45 a.m. Monday, a logging truck carrying two empty trailers was heading westbound on Highway 4 when a car two vehicles in front stopped to turn left onto Brittain Boulevard.

The vehicle directly in front of the truck, Ramey said, managed to brake and go around the car waiting to turn left, “but the logging truck hit the brakes, jackknifed across the road and hit an oncoming eastbound SUV.”

The truck, Ramey said, was jackknifed from “ditch to ditch, and there was no way of getting around it.”

Ramey said the driver of the SUV was pinned inside the vehicle, but was able to communicate with first responders. The driver, he said, had injuries to her head and arm, but nothing life threatening. The passenger of the SUV, he said, had very light injuries. Both were taken to hospital by ambulance.

The truck driver sustained no injuries, Ramey said.

Highway 4 was closed for nearly four hours. Ramey said Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure were on scene, along with a collision reconstructionist.

Ramey said measurements were taken at the scene to determine whether or not weather was an issue in the accident.

The investigation, he said, is ongoing.

Drive BC first reported Monday (Feb. 26) at 9:51 a.m. that the highway was closed five kilometres west of the Coombs Junction with Highway 4A, near Brittain Boulevard.